Why Chips Taste Better At Mexican Restaurants - Mashed (2024)

ByBoshika Gupta/

One of life's simpler and most satisfying pleasures is digging into a bowl of freshly made tortilla chips with a side of salsa at a Mexican restaurant. According to Mental Floss, tortilla chips were likely discovered by a man named Jose Martinez from San Antonio, Texas, who invented a way to produce masa (the ingredient that's responsible for tortillas) on a large scale. When Martinez realized he had a lot of leftover masa, he figured it wouldn't hurt to cut some of it up and toast it to make fresh chips.

Tortilla chips have become so popular over the years that Texas even decided to make things official in 2003 and declared chips and salsa as the state's official snack — for real. This idea was suggested by a few elementary school students who believed that their state needed a snack to complement the state's other signature items, like its official pepper, the jalapeño; its favorite dish, chili; and the official Texas state fruit, the grapefruit.

Tortilla chips at a Mexican restaurant are often served warm and fresh

Why Chips Taste Better At Mexican Restaurants - Mashed (2)

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As amazing as all tortilla chips can be, no matter where you are, it's probable that some of the best ones you've ever tried have been from a Mexican restaurant.Ever wonder what's their secret to making tortilla chips taste so good? Well, as per Epicurious, what really works in a restaurant's favor is the fact that their chips are warm and toasty when they reach your table.A Reddit thread examining why store-bought chips and salsa never taste as great as ones from a Mexican restaurantclaims that the tortilla chips served in restaurants are frequently homemade, with commenters saying that the chips you buy off supermarket shelves are packed with preservatives and not nearly as fresh, which does nothing for their flavor. Many suggested simply finding a local restaurant with good quality chips and buying them from there,with one commenter even suggesting that the best thing to do is just get tortillas and fry the chips yourself.

We agree that freshness and warmth is the key to nailing that restaurant quality tortilla chip flavor, and a restaurant's chips are also a great way to figure out whether it's worth your money. According toInsider, the amount of work a place puts into perfecting its basics is a great way to gauge whether it's worth your time. A good eatery will always provide you with freshly made chips instead of turning to store-bought salsa and stale, insipid chips.

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Why Chips Taste Better At Mexican Restaurants - Mashed (2024)

FAQs

Why Chips Taste Better At Mexican Restaurants - Mashed? ›

Chef Santibañez also points out that restaurants have high-tech equipment and experienced staff that can crank out chips at a faster rate. Therefore, he asserts that restaurant chips are so delicious because the kitchen staff has "the possibility of frying them fresh for every shift."

What are the chips made out of at a Mexican restaurant? ›

Simple Ingredients

All that needs to go into a tortilla chip is cornmeal, oil, lime juice, and salt. Seriously, that's it! Some restaurants will add spices for an extra kick, but you don't need them, especially if you're going to dip the chips in salsa. If a restaurant adds anything else, it's often a preservative.

Are Mexican restaurant chips flour or corn? ›

The thing that makes Mexican restaurant's tortilla chips special is the tortillas they are made from. They cut fresh corn tortillas into quarters and fry them. The tortillas they use for tacos, enchiladas, all the like, are the same ones they use for chips.

How do Mexican restaurants heat their chips? ›

Tortilla or nacho chip warmers are what most Mexican restaurants use to serve up chips that feel and taste as if they are freshly-baked and fresh out of the oven. A nacho chip warmer works to warm tortilla chips and then keeps them warm.

Do Mexican restaurants deep fry their chips? ›

What is usually the first thing that you are offered when you sit down in a Mexican restaurant? Chips and salsa, right? The salsa is likely to be a healthy choice, but count on the chips to be swimming in oil. They are corn tortillas, deep-fried to make them crispy.

Why are Mexican restaurant chips better? ›

Chef Santibañez also points out that restaurants have high-tech equipment and experienced staff that can crank out chips at a faster rate. Therefore, he asserts that restaurant chips are so delicious because the kitchen staff has "the possibility of frying them fresh for every shift."

What is the most popular Mexican chip? ›

Top 50 Scanned: Tortilla Chip beta
Popularity
#1Tortilla Chips, Original Tostitos140 Calories
#2Tortilla Chips Santitas140 Calories
#3Tortilla Chips Tostitos150 Calories
#4Original Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips Tostitos140 Calories
46 more rows

Do Mexicans prefer flour or corn? ›

Not only is corn used frequently in Mexican dishes, but it has also been around much longer than flour tortillas making them the ideal choice if authenticity is your goal.

Why are on the border chips so good? ›

How Great Chips Are Made. It starts with the ingredients. Simple and familiar ingredients with just the right blend of flours and the perfect balance of sea salt, all crafted together to let the corn shine through.

Are chipotle tortilla chips corn or flour? ›

The corn tortillas used for the chips are made only with corn masa flour and water. “We have always used high quality ingredients and prepared them using classic cooking techniques,” said Steve Ells , Chipotle Founder, Chairman and CEO.

What oil do they use at Mexican restaurants? ›

In Mexico, traditional food is commonly made with “manteca” or lard. It comes in tubs and is made from pork. For home cooking, by far the most commonly used oil for cooking is vegetable oil. Corn, canola and soy are the most common.

What is a substitute for chips at Mexican restaurants? ›

Lighten the load by eating it with soft corn tortillas—these are loaded with fiber and are a good substitute for deep-fried tortilla chips and flour tortillas.

What are Mexican chips that puff up in oil? ›

Duros de harina (also known as pasta para duros, duritos, durros, pasta para durito, chicharrones, churritos, Mexican wagon wheels or pin wheels) are a popular Mexican snack food made of puffed wheat, often flavored with chili and lemon. Duros with chili and lemon flavoring Round flour duros puff up when fried.

Are Mexican restaurant chips corn or flour? ›

Tortillas chips are primarily made using corn and are a staple in Mexican food diets. – Taquitos: If you have ordered taquitos off the menu, you know that they will be served using corn tortillas. When flour tortillas are used, they are known as flautas.

What are Mexican restaurant chips made of? ›

Tortilla chips are generally manufactured from coarsely ground masa from either fresh masa or dry flour that is sheeted, formed, and cut in preparation for the subsequent steps of baking, equilibrating, frying, and salting/seasoning.

What are Mexican chips made of? ›

Tortilla chips are generally manufactured from coarsely ground masa from either fresh masa or dry flour that is sheeted, formed, and cut in preparation for the subsequent steps of baking, equilibrating, frying, and salting/seasoning.

What are restaurant tortilla chips made of? ›

Corn, Vegetable Oil (Corn, Canola and/or Sunflower Oil), and Salt.

What are Que Pasa chips made of? ›

Their line of gluten-free, artisan Tortilla Chips are made from whole corn kernels that are ground with real Mexican lava stones, and are available in varieties including: yellow; white corn; red corn; blue corn; purple corn; black bean; and ancient grains.

What chips do restaurants use? ›

To help you make the right decision, we've rounded up some of the most popular frozen chip brands used by fast food restaurants in the UK. The UK's most popular Frozen Chips manufacturers are McCain, Lamb Weston, Aviko, and Texas.

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